GENESIS

Notes on Genesis 8

• Genesis 8:1 And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that was with him in the ark: and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters assuaged;

God remembered Noah. I wonder if they ever thought that God had forsaken them. Sometimes we have to just trust and wait. This is what they had to do. I'm sure they had daily chores in caring for the animals but they probably had times when they wondered how long they would be in the ark. It probably was a happy day for all of them to finally be able to leave the ark and go on land again. The animals were probably happy too.

• Genesis 8:2 The fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained;
• 3 And the waters returned from off the earth continually: and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated.
• 4 And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat.
• 5 And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month: in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, were the tops of the mountains seen.
• 6 And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made:
• 7 And he sent forth a raven, which went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the earth.
• 8 Also he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground;
• 9 But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him into the ark, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth: then he put forth his hand, and took her, and pulled her in unto him into the ark.

Again they had to wait and trust. This must have been a great trial of faith. God's timing and our timing usually is not the same. Of course another thought is that if they came out too soon the mess and the mud would have discouraged them. You can just imagine how it would have looked.

• Genesis 8:10 And he stayed yet other seven days; and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark;
• 11 And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf plucked off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth.

When we think of a dove, we think of peace and gentleness whereas the raven seems to be restless and desires to wander back and forth. The dove brought hope that God was still in control and was providing for them.

• Genesis 8:12 And he stayed yet other seven days; and sent forth the dove; which returned not again unto him any more.
• 13 And it came to pass in the six hundredth and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from off the earth: and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and, behold, the face of the ground was dry.
• 14 And in the second month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, was the earth dried.
• 15 And God spoke unto Noah, saying,
• 16 Go forth of the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons' wives with thee.
• 17 Bring forth with thee every living thing that is with thee, of all flesh, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth; that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply upon the earth.

They didn't leave the ark until they received the word of God and the commandment to leave. They could have lived in fear and stayed in the ark. They could have left the ark ahead of time and ran into all sorts of trouble. When one trusts in God for guidance and rely on His word for direction, we would get into less trouble. Yet it seems that waiting on the Lord is the hardest for us to do.

I've mentioned this many times that the early church was victorious and holy unto the Lord but after the apostles died off and false brethren began to creep in, I believe they thought the Lord was not coming as they originally thought to set up His kingdom, so they somehow got the idea that they were supposed to set up His kingdom for Him. Unfortunately instead of preaching the gospel and trusting God to save the lost and add to the church, they began to use force and tried to set up the kingdom and rule it themselves thinking they were agents of God. However they set up an earthly manmade kingdom, not a kingdom of God. It didn't work then and it will not work now.

We have to wait on God to set up the kingdom. Until that day comes we must preach the gospel that saves the soul from sin. We must preach repentance from sin and faith in Christ alone for salvation. God has to do the changing of the heart. We can't change one person by religious rituals, ceremonies or even water baptisms. God's spirit has to come into a person and change that person. We must be born again to be saved from sin and have eternal life. It has to come by the spirit of God. We teach, we preach but God does the saving.

Any religion that uses force to gain converts cannot be a true religion. How can one be forced to believe from the heart? Faith is what brings us into salvation, not the works of men.

The government has to use force to keep law and order but the church cannot use force to make converts because to be saved, we first have to see that we need to be saved, repent of sin and believe in Jesus to save us from sin. The Holy Spirit convicts us of sin and draws us to Jesus. When we believe, we are forgiven of all sin, cleansed of sin and are born again by the spirit of God. An inner change takes place and the sinner becomes a child of God. This is completely done by the spirit of God and we can't force anyone to be saved or converted.

It is so stupid for us to think we can do this by our own rituals, rites, and works. We have to depend on the spirit of God. But I digress here. As important as that is, the coming of Christ to usher in the perfect way of salvation was years later after this flood in Noah's day. 

• Genesis 8:18 And Noah went forth, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him:
• 19 Every beast, every creeping thing, and every fowl, and whatsoever creepeth upon the earth, after their kinds, went forth out of the ark.
• 20 And Noah built an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.

The first thing Noah did was show His thanksgiving to God. They could have left the ark and rejoiced in their salvation yet forget the one who saved them. Noah's first act was to make a sacrifice and show thanksgiving.

Sacrifices in the Old Testament pointed by faith toward the supreme sacrifice that was to come when God sent His own Son to be the perfect sinless sacrifice for the sins of mankind. Every time a sacrifice was made it was an act of faith in the salvation that was to come especially if it was a sin offering. Types of offerings and laws governing the offerings are explained in detail in Leviticus after the giving of the law. I notice that before the law though, sacrifices were being made already. Perhaps the law came to bring order and govern how to do this properly so that they have no more rejection such as Cain's offering was rejected. Of course that is my speculation.

This may be why Abel's offering was accepted but Cain's offering was rejected. Without faith, any sacrifice is vain worship.

After the coming of Christ, animal sacrifices are no longer necessary. This is explained in the book of Hebrews. Here is only a part of that explanation.

• Hebrews 10:9 Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.
• 10 By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
• 11 And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins:
• 12 But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God;
• 13 From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool.
• 14 For by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified.
• 15 Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before,
• 16 This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;
• 17 And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.
• 18 Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.

Now we have a way of salvation that is available to all both Jews and Gentiles. Jesus is the bridge that unites us back to God in which sin separated us from.

• Genesis 8:21 And the LORD smelled a sweet savor; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.
• 22 While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.

God promised never to destroy the world with a flood. The seasons will continue and the earth will remain until the time of God's judgment and the setting up of the kingdom of Christ. Sin will be judged and the earth will be changed but it will not be destroyed completely. The evil and sin though will one day be removed. We do not have to wait for that day to have sin removed from our own individual lives. Jesus made the way for us to be "born again" by the spirit of God by first just simply believing in Him. -DC

Genesis 9